Electric apparatus and an operation method thereof

ABSTRACT

The present invention discloses an electric apparatus and operation method thereof. The electric apparatus includes: display unit to display the output content from said electric apparatus: operation unit used to operate said electric apparatus; the apparatus further includes: the primary indication unit, when the primary indication unit is started up, the operation unit is in visible status and otherwise the operation unit is in invisible status. The design of the present invention improves the front visual effect and the interactive performance of the electrical apparatus.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a Continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/073,081, filed on Feb. 29, 2008, which claims priority to Chinese Application No. 200710016606.4, filed on Jun. 26, 2007, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein in their entirety by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to an electric apparatus, and more specifically to the hidden operation unit structure of the electric apparatus and the operation method thereof.

BACKGROUND

With the constant improvement of the consumption and appreciation levels, the appearance of the conventional electric apparatus can not meet the aesthetic requirement of the consumers.

Although more and more fashionable elements are introduced in the appearance design of home electric apparatus with the appearance of liquid crystal television, plasma TV, liquid crystal display, DVD with liquid crystal panel, and so on, and the auxiliary equipments of all kinds of electric apparatus gradually apply hidden design elements, the sound boxes, connection ports and remote controller are designed in the hidden part, or all function keys are designed to as touching-type, therefore, the appearance structure of the panel of the electric apparatus is simplified and the number of the unnecessary components displayed on the front of the electric apparatus is reduced.

At present, the key-presses of all kinds of home electric apparatus still can be directly seen at the obverse side. They manifest outside the frame at the obverse side, or the color of the case is designed not consistent with that of the panel, therefore, the position of the key-presses needed to be operated can be easily found and distinguished clearly when the operator wants to press the key-presses.

However, the above design has a problem, ha is since the key-presses are exposed within the line of sight, it affects the visual impact of the appearance of the electric apparatus on the consumers, and especially for the electric apparatus which takes a long time to enjoy, the disadvantage of the exposed key-presses is evident, for example, for TV or computer screen, long time and short distance watching will make any obstacle on the front of the screen affect the line of sight.

CONTENT OF THE INVENTION

An object of the present invention is to offer an electric apparatus to improve visual effect, especially the visual effect of the appearance of the electric apparatus.

Another object of the present invention is to offer an electric apparatus with hidden key-presses design, which simplifies the panel of the electric apparatus and maximally reduces the impact on the line of sight.

Still another object of the present invention is to offer an electric apparatus with improved interactive performance.

In order to achieve the above objects, the present invention provides the following technical scheme:

An electric apparatus, which includes:

A display unit, used to display the output content from said electric apparatus;

An operation unit, used to operate said electric apparatus;

Which is characterized in that, the electric apparatus also includes:

When the primary indication unit is started up, the operation unit; is in visible status and otherwise the operation unit is in invisible status.

Preferably, said electric apparatus also includes:

The secondary indication unit, used to indicate the working condition of the electric apparatus;

The triggering unit, when triggered, said primary indication unit is started up, otherwise said primary indication unit is not started up;

Said secondary indication unit is the triggering unit.

Preferably, said secondary indication unit can be used as the triggering unit to control the condition of said primary indication unit when the power source of the electric apparatus is in working condition.

Preferably, said primary indication unit is LED, said LED is fixedly connected with said display module; said operation unit includes several touching-type key-presses.

Preferably, the number of said LEDs is the same as that of said touching-type key-presses and their mounting positions correspond to each other.

Preferably, said display unit is equipped with a translucent shell, and the color of said operation unit is similar to or the same as said translucent shell.

Preferably, said operation unit is located after of the said translucent shell, it is fixedly connected with said display unit.

Preferably, the light emitted from said primary indication unit is different from that the color of the translucent shell.

Preferably, both the translucent shell and the operation unit are black and light from the primary indication unit is blue.

Preferably, each indication time of said primary indication unit is determined.

In addition, the present invention further offers a operation method of an electric apparatus. The technical scheme is:

Said electric apparatus includes:

A display unit, used to display the output content from said electric apparatus;

An operation unit, used to operate said electric apparatus;

The primary indication unit;

The method includes the following steps: start up the primary indication unit, said operation unit is in visible status, said operation unit can be operated then; otherwise, said operation unit is in invisible status.

With the technical scheme offered in the present invention, the secondary operation unit is hidden and can not be observed within the line of sight when the electric apparatus is in the normal working condition and the powered off condition, and the secondary operation unit is only illumined by the triggering unit when the secondary operation unit is needed to adjust the electric apparatus, which maximizes the terseness of the appearance of the electric apparatus and increases the interaction between the consumers and the electric apparatus. And the present structure of the electric apparatus is further fully utilized through the integration of the secondary indication unit and the triggering unit.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a localized effect view in accordance with the preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an illustration when the operation unit in FIG. 1 is in invisible status;

FIG. 3 is the structural diagram in accordance with the preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a circuit schematic diagram offered to implement the present invention.

THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

The electric apparatus offered in the present invention will be described in further detail with reference to the accompanying figures and the embodiments.

The present invention can be applied to a variety of electric apparatus such as CRT TV, LCD TV, plasma TV, LCD computer, display, DVD, and so on. Its effect is especially evident for TV and computer displays which take a long time for the eyes to enjoy the content of the screen. For description, the LCD TV will be used in the preferred embodiment of the present invention to describe the design and the implementation of the present invention, yet the present invention will not be limited to the application of the preferred embodiment.

Refer to FIG. 1, 2, and FIG. 3, the electric apparatus in the figures is LCD TV, wherein, 1 is LCD TV, 2 is the translucent shell, 3 is the operation unit, 4 is the secondary indication unit, 5 is the power supply ON/OFF device, and 6 is the display unit.

In this preferred embodiment, the display unit 6 is equipped with the operation unit 3, the secondary indication unit 4 and the power supply ON/OFF device 5, while the display unit 6, the translucent shell 2 and other components (such as sound boxes not shown in the figures) constitute the LCD TV 1.

Of course, the equipped positions of the power supply ON/OFF device 5, the secondary indication unit 4 and the operation unit 3 and the display unit 6 can be changed, wherein the translucent shell 2 is square, but it is not limited to this, and the display unit here is the LCD screen and the related fittings.

When the LCD TV 1 is in working condition or non-working condition, as shown in FIG. 2, the position of the operation unit and whether it is located on the front of the TV can not be determined, only the power supply ON/OFF device 5 and the secondary indication unit 4 can be seen from the front of the TV, wherein the secondary indication unit 4 is an on-off indicator light and also the triggering unit used to trigger the primary indication unit. It is certain that the triggering unit can also be equipped with another triggering switch while not use the secondary indication unit 4. When the secondary indication unit 4 is electrically connected with the primary indication unit, as shown in FIG. 4, the primary indication unit is six LEDs which emit blue light. The mounting position of the primary indication unit corresponds with the operation unit 3, and the operation unit 3 is six touching-type key-presses which respectively correspond with the menu key, the signal source key, the volume “+” key, the volume “−” key, channel “+” key and channel “−” key. With the operation unit 3, the pattern, volume and the channel of the TV can be adjusted.

When the power supply ON/OFF device 5 is connected, the secondary indication unit is illumined and the LCD TV 1 starts to work. The remote controller (not shown in the Figure) or the operation unit 3 in the LCD TV 1 can be used to operate the LCD TV 1 when it is desired. Since in most cases, the operation of the LCD TV 1 is performed by the remote controller, the use frequency of the operation unit is relatively low, and the visible operation unit will cause relatively large influence in the consumers if they watch TV for a long time at the visible position in the front of the TV.

Referring to FIG. 1, when the LCD TV 1 needs to be operated via the operation unit 3, the primary indication unit (not shown in the Figure) electrically connected with the secondary indication unit 4 is lightened by switching on the secondary indication unit 4, the primary indication unit lightens its vicinity, therefore the key-press sign silk-screen printed on the translucent shell 2 is illumined, which makes the operator can determine the position of the key-presses and distinguish the function of each key-press and makes the operation of the LCD TV 1 conveniently. The LCD TV 1 shown in FIG. 1 omits the positions of the power supply ON/OFF device 5 and the secondary indication unit 4 to intuitively embody the effect of the primary indication unit illumining the operation unit 3. Of course that the primary indication unit can also apply only a diode or similar indication device, such as laser generator, and the light omitted from the diode is blue or other color which is largely different from those of the operation unit 3 and the translucent shell 2. The translucent shell 2 is made of ABS, PC and color master batch, and its color is black. The color of the 6 key-presses is black or some other color relatively close to that of the translucent shell 2, and the translucent shell 2 is transparent. Therefore, after the diodes are illumined, the sign silk-screen printed on the translucent shell 2 can be lightened. The key-presses are located after of the translucent shell 2.

Since when the consumers want to operate the operation unit 3, the triggering unit needs to be triggered to control the working condition of the primary indication unit to show the position of the operation unit 3 and the function of each key. After a certain time interval (such as 10 seconds), the primary indication unit is automatically extinguished and the keys are again in the invisible status, which increases the interactive performance between the LCD TV 1 and the consumers.

The time interval here that the primary indication unit is illumined is fixed, which can be set as 10 s 20 s or some other more appropriate time, and the time interval can be set through the circuit so that it can be adjusted by operating the operation unit 3 when it is desired.

Referring to FIG. 4, wherein KEY 1 is the power supply ON/OFF device 5, KEY 2, KEY 3, KEY 4, KEY 5, KEY 6 and KEY 7 are respectively the menu key, the signal source key, the volume key, the volume key, the channel “+” key and the channel key, and they constitute the operation unit 3.

Operational principle is as below: the 7th pin of the socket XP2 is KEY_STANDBY_POWER, which is the power supply +5 of the power supply ON/OFF device, and also the power supply of the chips U1, U2, U3, U4 and TS02. When the LCD TV 1 is in the normal working condition, the output from the 10^(th) pin of U4 is high level and V4 is properly conducted, and D18, D19 and D20 properly lightening.

When the user touches the power supply ON/OFF device, the output from the 10^(th) pin of U4 is instantaneously changed to low level and V4 is instantaneously non-conducted, D18, D19 and D20 are instantaneously extinguished. Meanwhile, the CPU of the LCD TV 1 set IO2 as high lever after it receives the low level signal of IO1, V8 is normally conducted, Vgs of Q1 is −5V, Q1 is conducted and D1-D17 LCDs are supplied with +5V, and the other six corresponding key-presses are illumined to irradiate. At the same time, after the CPU receives the low level signal of the IO1, it starts up the timer to time and the time is set by the user by the TV menu and generally is 10 s, 20 s, and so on. Here the user can see the silk-screen on the front of each key and all kinds of adjustments of the LCD TV 1 are performed according to the prompt of the silk-screen. When the timing reaches the predetermined time, the IO2 is set as low lever by the CPU, V8 is non-conducted, Vgs of the Q1 is 0V and Q1 is non-conducted. +5V is not supplied to the LCDs D1-D17, and correspondingly, the other six lights of the key-presses are extinguished.

The above description is the preferred embodiment of the present invention, yet the present invention is not limited to this. Any obviously change thought by those skilled in the art and some modifications and improvements without departure from the principle of the present invention should be fell in the scope of the present invention. 

The invention claimed is:
 1. An electric apparatus, which includes: a housing; a display arranged within the housing configured to visually output content from the electric apparatus; an operation circuit arranged within the housing and separate from the display that is coupled with user input controls that facilitate controlling aspects of the electric apparatus; a primary indication circuit configured to illuminate the user input controls of the operation circuit such that when the primary indication circuit is in an illuminated state, the user input controls of the operation circuit are visible to a user of the electric apparatus, and when the primary indication circuit is in an unilluminated state and the display is outputting content, the user input controls of the operating circuit are invisible to the user of the electric apparatus.
 2. The electric apparatus of claim 1 further comprising: a secondary indication circuit configured to indicate a working condition of the electric apparatus; and a triggering circuit configured to start the primary indication circuit when triggered; wherein the secondary indication circuit corresponds to the triggering circuit.
 3. The electric apparatus of claim 2, wherein the secondary indication circuit is further configured to control the primary indication unit to enter the started up state when the power source of the electric apparatus is in a working condition.
 4. The electric apparatus of claim 1, wherein the primary indication circuit corresponds to an LED that is fixedly connected with a display module; and wherein user input controls the operation circuit correspond to a plurality of touching-type keys.
 5. The electric apparatus of claim 4, further comprising a plurality of LEDs, wherein a quantity of the LEDs matches a quantity of the touching-type keys and respective mounting positions of the plurality of LEDs correspond to respective positions of the plurality of touching-type keys.
 6. The electric apparatus of claim 1, wherein the display comprises a translucent shell, wherein a color of the operation circuit matches a color of the translucent shell.
 7. The electric apparatus of claim 6, wherein the operation circuit is located behind the translucent shell and is fixedly connected with the display.
 8. The electric apparatus of claim 6, wherein a color of light emitted from the primary indication circuit is different from the color of the translucent shell.
 9. The electric apparatus of claim 6, wherein the color of the translucent shell and the color of the operation circuit are black, and wherein light provided by the primary indication circuit is blue.
 10. The electric apparatus of claim 1, is characterized in that each indication time of the primary indication circuit is determined.
 11. A method for controlling an electric apparatus comprising: providing a housing, a display arranged within the housing configured to display the output content from the electric apparatus, an operation circuit arranged within the housing and separate from the display that is coupled with user input controls configured to operate the electric apparatus and a primary indication circuit: the method comprising; if the primary indication circuit is in a started up state, controlling the operation circuit to make the user input controls become visible to a user of the electric apparatus; and if the primary indication circuit is not in a started up state and the electric apparatus is in a working condition, controlling the operation circuit to make the user input controls become invisible to the user of the electric apparatus.
 12. A computing device, comprising: a housing; a display arranged within the housing configured to visually output content from the handheld device; an operation circuit arranged within the housing and separate from the display that is coupled with user input controls that facilitate controlling aspects of the computing device; a primary indication circuit configured illuminate the user input controls of the operation circuit such that when the primary indication circuit is in an illuminated state, the user input controls of the operation circuit are visible to a user of the computing device, and when the primary indication circuit is in an unilluminated state and the display is outputting content, the user input controls of the operating circuit are invisible to the user of the computing device. 